The Tramping Report

Company at Ranger Biv

Dayle Drummond offered to help us improve the tramping route to Ranger Biv. To say I was happy to accept his offer is a bit of an understatement.

It would take a full day just to tramp in there. We would then only have one day of the Labour Weekend holiday to work on the route before tramping out on the Monday. There was too much work for just the two of us to get through in a day. And having someone of Dayle's capability with us, meant we wouldn't feel we had to be looking after our helper all the time.

We drove up early Saturday and parked at the Andrews Shelter in the Waimak valley. The intentions book in the shelter showed five parties had headed for Ranger Biv in the previous couple of weeks. It's good to see more people going in to experience the place. But it also showed how important our task was in making it possible for people to have a chance of getting there.

We tramped up the Andrews Stream, over Casey Saddle and down to Casey hut. Casey was our lunch stop. Again there were numerous references to people planning trips up to Ranger.

Across the stream, in the bush, I heard my first shining cuckoo of the season. It's a special event for me every year the first time I hear that distinctive call.

A bit further on we left the track to cross the Poulter river to Fenwick stream. A solitary black fronted tern flew overhead catching insects on the wing.

Up in Fenwick stream 15 or so canada geese honked and flapped noisily into the air, forming into their v formation as they flew out into the main valley.

We caught one by surprise still on her eggs. She rose straight into the air, leaving her large half dozen unguarded.

A cairn at the start of the gorge marked the start of the deer trail up through the bush. We climbed quickly up the spur toward Ranger biv. The thick pole stand of beech at the top slowed us down a lot, but we still got to the biv in 3 hrs 20 from Casey hut.

Two hunters had got there ahead of us. They'd left their packs and gone off with their rifles.

We set to, preparing our campsite and put up the fly on a flat spot on the rib a short distance above the biv.

Rifle shots from high above echoed around the hills and signalled early success for the hunters.

When they got back, Craig and Mike, had a good chamois head with them. They also said they'd seen a good sized red deer stag. They didn't attempt a shot at that as the route up to Ranger, so far, wouldn't permit an easy carry out of a heavy load.

They were just a day too early. And it was going to give them a good reason to come back now.

In the morning the guys headed down to the Poulter. We got to work on sorting out the route down below the biv.

The first section we just marked with tape.

The forest floor here was covered with a deep carpet of 'advance growth' beech seedlings under tall mature trees. 'Advance growth' is where beech tree seedlings grow exceedling slowly and not much more than a metre tall for many years. Eventually a mature tree falls, opening the canopy and letting in the sunshine. Then growth is explosive, and they quickly become an almost impenetrable thicket.

The 'advance growth' section we worked through had a fairly good deer trail but it was only easy to follow uphill. Going down it was hard to stay on it and the lie of the land was a constant lure to drift off route.

The tape now makes it easy to stay on course through there.

Then we got in amongst the 'regen' (short for regeneration). This was where extensive areas of forest had been blown down years ago. The ground was still criss-crossed with stacks of tree trunks. Growing over the whole areas were exceedingly dense stands of tall thin poles of beech saplings, all trying to outgrow each other in a desperate race for survival.

The poles were too close to get through easily with a pack on.

This is where Dayle showed his class. With his energy and enthusiasm we were able to cover a lot of territory, establishing the best line. Where it was most difficult we marked it with our thin pieces of plastic tape.

Wildlife seen: NZ Falcon(surprise crk monday), kaka(ranger ridge monday), grey warblers(ranger ridge), kiwi (male & female - ranger biv sunday night), variable oystercatchers (riversdale monday), brown creepers(throughout), bellbirds (alarm call - owl? - ranger ridge - andrews),

muehlenbeckia in flower(poulter terrace monday),

Ranger Biv update

Honora and I went along to a meeting last Monday with DoC's Canterbury Conservator, Mike Cuddihy, and a group of his management staff for a discussion on Ranger Biv.

We were given a good hearing and were able to present our concerns fully. Then we heard and were able to question the department's rationale(s) for scheduling Ranger's removal.

Early on, Mike acknowledged the inaccuracy of the claims about Ranger's condition and were not justification for taking it out.

I then sought clarification of the claims Ranger needed to be removed because it was within the boundary of the north east Arthurs Pass 'no tramping facilities' zone. Discussion with Poma Palmer, who's responsible for the Arthurs Pass management plan, revealed this is not the case.

At the end of the hour and a half meeting Mike said he would put the removal of Ranger on hold until the circumstances of where it fitted with the management plan could be fully reviewed.

Obviously I'm very grateful for Mike giving us the opportunity to raise our concerns.

And of course this is not the end of it. I'm now committed to staying with it right through the review and then perhaps working with a maintenance agreement to ensure Ranger remains in good condition and a valuable shelter for trampers and hunters into the distant future.

Lake Christabel

Chris Leaver invited Honora and me along on her Peninsula Tramping Club trip to Lake Christabel.

We headed off early Saturday morning to rendezvous with the other carload at Maruia Springs. From Lewis Pass the trees were heavily loaded with new snow and the Springs hotel was a classic winter scene.

Further down it was raining lightly rather than snowing. At the track start in Palmers Road a farm shed provided handy shelter for us to change into boots etc.

The rain stopped and we crossed the stile and headed off up the muddy track through silver beech forest.

The team of eight were all new to me except for Andy and Honora. The others were Chris, Heather, Keith, Heather and Lyn.

The track was easy enough to walk but it didn't seem to have had any serious maintenance work in a long time. The track benching needs work in a lot of places.

We wandered along at a fairly mellow pace with no sense of hurry. It made it easy to chat as we went and the time passed quickly until we reached the lake shore.

It was the perfect place to stop and I don't know how anyone going up the valley could resist it.

The lake was calm and there wasn't the slightest movement where its clear water touched the shingle beach. I guess its not always this way and it would be nice to think of there being a little shelter for lakeside lunch stops in time to come.

The track stays just above the lake all the way round as there are no continuous beaches to walk on. However we could see the lake through the trees almost the whole time.

Almost anywhere it's easy to walk down to the edge for photos or just enjoy the view.

And it's worth doing that.

As we got further round the lake we started playing the game of estimating the time to get to the head. And it was just a game. The day was drawing on but I don't think anyone was concerned about the time. And the track was actually better to walk on the further we went.

And it turned out that we arrived in the valley at the head of the lake just in time for the perfect view as cloud drifted away from the freshly snow covered mountains.

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The hut was only a short distance away and when it came into view smoke was drifting from the chimney.

If we're honest, smoke from a hut's chimney always brings mixed feelings. For myself, meeting new people who love wild places like I do adds to my pleasure on any trip. But eight of us were arriving at a ten bunk hut....

However there were only two people there so there wasn't any problem with us all fitting in.

I did feel a bit sorry for how our sudden invasion must have impacted on them.

They both worked for DoC. And that surprised me until I heard that, like me, they worked in an office. I know that working in an office makes me keener to get out in the hills whenever I can, so I guess it works for them too.

They'd come over the tops from Rough Creek, the way we were heading, so of course that was very useful to us. I was glad to be able to help them out too by giving them the keys to the Isuzu to get back to their car.

Meal time was a new experience for me. I hadn't been on a tramping trip before with a club where meals were organised by the trip leader. If the fine meal organised by Chris is anything to go by it has a lot to recommend it.

In the morning it was fine and cold. Chris had us up at 6.30 as we weren't sure how long it was going to take us to get over the range to the road.

The track climbed steadily right from the hut. With the snow covered ground the lack of benching and infrequent markers meant care was needed with route finding. The slow climb up the narrowing valley seemed to take a while. And the heavy snow cover made the bush quiet and gave a claustrophobic feel to it.

It was so good to break out above the bushline. The sense of openness and clarity was sublime.

The trail made by our hut companions stretched ahead. The snow was up to knee deep in places but we all took turns in front so it wasn't too tiring for anyone.

The poled route it followed didn't quite match the route marked on either version of the L31 topo we had. If travelling in bad visibility it would be good to know the general line of the poles across the tops beforehand.

We stopped for lunch right on the ridge top. It was the perfect place for it with still air and fine views all round.

After lunch Chris suggested going for a walk to high point 1482m for a view of the lake. Four of us were keen enough for the extra climb.

The views there were magnificent and well worth it even if a little murk threatened to gather while we were there.

It was good to stand on the high point and survey the whole course of our journey from distant Palmers Rd way off in the Upper Grey valley, past Christabel far below us and around into the little nameless valley we'd just ascended.

We turned and scampered back down to our packs and followed the others down into the basin at the head of Rough Creek.

The snow filled bowl was like a solar oven as clouds drifted apart and bright sunshine poured in.

Soon we were descending in cooler beech forest.

Rough Creek descends 600m in 3 km from the bushline to the road. The track is a pleasant walk and easy to follow though markers are occasionally sparse.

We spilled out onto the road to find the Isuzu already parked there waiting for us.

A short time later we were changed and enjoying hot drinks at the Springs hotel while Chris sorted out the final trip details.